The Crystal's Aura
by SasuxNaruFangirl
Summary: Team 7 went to a palace for a mission. Sasuke finds a strange crystal, and it changes the three shinobi in a very bizzare way... Please R&R!
1. The Palace

**Hi! This is my first attempt to make a Naruto fanfiction. Don't ask me where the idea came from, though. This fanfic has no character pairings. No flames, onegai (please). I'll put the translations of words at the end. Please review when you're finished!**

**Disclaimer: What? Do I look like I own Naruto? I only own this plot, nothing else.**

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**It was early morning, and Team 7 was getting ready for a mission. Kakashi and two out of three of his students showed up. Both Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, who were never late, and no one ever had to wait for them.

Naruto Uzumaki, on the other hand, always had his teammates waiting for his presence. He was almost always late.

Naruto awoke so late, in fact, that he had to skip breakfast that morning. His stomach growled as he ran to the Academy, but he ignored it.

---

Kakashi Hatake, Team 7's instructor, patiently awaited the presence of his missing student, while reading Icha Icha Paradise.

Sasuke was getting impatient, but kept his cool. He knew Naruto wouldn't skip a mission, and would be there soon enough. He was getting used to the blonde's lateness.

Sakura was angry. _What's taking him so long?_ She thought to herself, while her inner self screamed it. The kunoichi tried calming down many times, but stopped when it had no effect. _He's gonna get it for making us wait! CHA!_

A while later, they finally saw Naruto. As soon as he got to them, it was fist-meets-face.

"Ahh, Sakura-chan! What was that for?" He asked while putting his hand on his cheek. "You should know." the pink-haired girl answered.

"Now that Naruto's here, shouldn't we start the mission?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, right. Follow me, then."

---

As they neared the place where they were to begin their mission, Naruto started to complain.

"Sensei, I'm hungry. Is there any place around here that we could stop at?"

"Naruto! We're almost there! You can eat after the mission!" a ticked off Sakura said.

"I didn't have anything to eat today..." Naruto pretended to sound sad.

"Dobe." the Uchiha boy mumbled. "Grrrrr... What did you say?"

Kakashi stopped walking, causing Naruto to bump into him. "Kakashi-sensei, why did you stop?"

"We're here."

---

Naruto stared in awe at the building before him. A palace. It was huge. The biggest building any of them had ever seen in their life.

"Uh, sensei, what is our mission about?" Sakura asked curiously. "Ah, that's right. I guess I forgot to tell you." Kakashi's students faceplanted. "In this mission, we have to protect a princess that lives in that palace."

"A princess?"

"Hai."

"Why do they need ninja for such a task?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, a servant from another palace found out that ninja from an unknown clan were planning on capturing princesses. The servant didn't know why, so I can't tell you either."

Sakura spoke up. "How do you know this is true?"

"It's true, Sakura, because the princess from that palace was gone the next morning. No one found her.

"That same servant came to this palace and warned all the people, including the princess."

Kakashi sighed and spoke again. "That's all the information I have. Now, let's go in."

They all nodded in agreement.

---

After a servant invited them in, Naruto hesitated before stepping inside the large palace. They all took off their shoes, and were led into a room. Inside the room, there stood the princess and the headmaster of the palace beside her.

As the headmaster told the three young ninjas more detailed instructions, he mentioned that they had to protect valuable things in the palace as well.

The headmaster was told that the foreign ninja were after scrolls. Not just any scrolls, however. They were after the rare ancient scrolls, that were now only found in that palace.

Three scrolls were scattered throughout the palace. And each of them, when used by a ninja, had a different element within them.

One was a fire element, another was a wind element, and another a water element. The strength of each depended on the rank of the ninja. A Genin would not get much of the element, and a Chuunin would only get half of the full strength. Only Jounin and Kage can get the full power of the element.

---

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were at their posts, guarding the scrolls. But if the ninja came to steal one, they would have to fight them alone, since the three scrolls were in different parts of the palace.

There would be a problem, though. If one of the Genin got injured and called to get help from another, the other ninja would either leave the scroll unprotected and fail the mission to help their teammate, or leave them wounded and stay at their post.

Both choices were risky, but they all knew that decision would come.

With Naruto guarding the water scroll, Sakura defending the wind scroll, and Sasuke protecting the fire scroll, all they had to do was wait for the enemy to come.

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**That's the end of the first chapter! Did you like? Ah, right. Translations.**

**kunoichi - female ninja (I think...)**

**dobe - uhhh... I'm gonna have to ask you what this means. Someone tell me, please?**

**hai - yes**


	2. The Crystal

**Disclaimer: As I said in the previous chapter, I only own this plot. Not Naruto. But if I did... I wouldn't make Sasuke go with Orochimaru. I'd make him go with... someone blond... with blue eyes... ;)

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Yoshi! Next chapter! Thanks for the reviews minna! This chapter's shorter than the first. Gomen. **

_**UchihaNightFlower: Arigatou! Uh, yeah. It was kinda late when I started making this fanfic, and I was starting to get tired. But when I have an idea for a fanfic I just can't ignore it! Hehe.**_

_**WaterBender101: Thanks!**_

_**Black Mage Yuna: Thanks for the help! That word is part of my (daily) vocabulary, but I can't say a** **word without knowing the meaning! -.-;**_

**As you can see, I just got 3 reviews for the first chapter. Even though I love getting reviews, I don't care how many I get, and I appreciate each one! ( Except flames. :P)**

**That's enough of my ramblings. I bet you want to see what happens next! **

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**At the fire scroll, Sasuke heard sounds of rustling clothing and footsteps in the now dark environment. _They decided to show up at night._ Sasuke thought to himself.

The moonlight shone through small windows in the walls, illuminating parts of the palace. Sasuke stayed hidden in the shadows near the scroll. He saw some movement in the corner of his eye and threw a kunai in that direction.

He heard a small sound of pain, and the unknown figure jumped toward him. Sasuke threw another kunai, but it bounced off the figure and was redirected to him. Sasuke jumped out of the way but the kunai his leg.

He made a hushed sound of pain.

_Kuso... What's with this guy? Why didn't it hit him that time?_

Sasuke heard something. Laughing. That ninja was laughing. "Is that all you've got?" he asked. The foreign ninja had a low voice, and it would probably send shivers up childrens' spines. Sasuke scowled at the remark.

"If I were you, I'd give up now and surrender the scroll." he said.

"Hah. In your dreams."

"Oh? And what will a pathetic wannabe ninja like you do?"

Sasuke grinned, as his eyes turned from ebony to blood red. He felt a small pulse of pain from his neck, but ignored it.

The ninja ran to Sasuke with a kunai in his hand, ready to attack. As he got close, he swiped at the air with hope that his weapon made contact with the young Genin. It would've cut Sasuke's chest, but he vanished and reappeared over the enemy.

"After I'm finished with you, you'll regret ever coming here!" The raven-haired boy said, as he kicked the ninja hard in the back, breaking his spine.

He landed hard on the ground.

---

Sasuke's eyes changed back into their original dark color. He started to walk away but noticed something on the ninja. The object flashed in a steady pulse, like a heartbeat. Sasuke wanted to take a closer look. _Hah, it might just be a trap_, he thought. _But I won't be stupid and fall for it. That's something Naruto would do._

The flickering object seemed to pull the dark-haired ninja closer as he tried to get away. He turned to face it, and the aura from the odd glowing article was so strong that it thrusted Sasuke towards it.

That sudden force of energy made him fall. He couldn't control the urge to examine it, and took it from the lifeless ninja.

Sasuke inspected the small rectangular object and realized that it was a crystal. It fit perfectly in his palm. The crystal started pulsing again, this time following along with the Uchiha's heartbeat.

He wrapped his fingers tightly around the jewel as it's energy pulsated throughout his body.

Sasuke's heart beat faster and the object released a blinding light. He passed out from the strong power sparking through his body.

The jewel's strange but powerful aura attacked everyone in the palace, except for the headmaster and the princess. The other ninja that accompanied the one that Sasuke killed were badly injured by it. Both the princess and the headmaster were protected by the guards and some servants that were with them.

But the effect of the ninja crystal's energy to the three Genin was unusual...

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**Heehee. It's a cliffie, ne? The next three chapters are the individual POVs of each of them. First is Naruto's, then Sasuke's, and third is Sakura. This is only because Sakura is one of my least favorite characters.  
It's MY fanfic. I can do whatever I want. I'll update when I get some reviews. If you're impatient, write a review, and the next chapter will come sooner!  
**


	3. Naruto's POV

**Hey! Sorry if I was kinda late -.-; Well, here's the next chapter! It's kinda short. Really short. Is that okay anyway, fellow readers? But you'll have to wait a while for the upcoming chapters since I'm moving to Calgary next week. **

**Thanks for the reviews minna!**

**Disclaimer: No. I don't own that sweet, adorable blue-eyed kid, or that (dare I say it?) _smexy_ raven-haired boy.**

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Naruto's POV**

As I awoke, I knew things weren't right. I wasn't in the palace anymore. The only thing I could see were trees._ I must be in a forest. But... where were the others?_

I got up slowly. I felt smaller for some reason.

I heard water somewhere nearby. At least I _think_ it was nearby. My hearing was sharper than usual. Following the sound of the rushing water, I turned right and ran towards it. _Why am I running on all fours?_ I asked myself. But I shrugged that thought off and kept going.

When I reached the water, I looked at my reflection. Staring back at me, with crystalline blue eyes, was... a fox.

"NANI!"

"Gah! How did this happen?" I panicked, "What happened at the palace? All I remember is a bright light... Then I... everything went black. How can I talk if I'm a fox? More importantly, where are the others?"

I started running again, to a direction that I hoped led me out of this forest. My ninja headband was now around my neck, and bothered me a little while I ran. I soon heard people talking.

"I must be close to the Hidden Leaf village!" I said. "Oh yeah! Score one for Naruto, the ninja... fox!"

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**You're gonna have to wait till. . . I guess the 2nd, 3rd or 4th of August for the next chapter. I hope you're patient enough until then!  
**

**Ja ne!**


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